Platz der Republik (Berlin)

Platz der Republik (German: [ˈplats deːɐ̯ ʁepuˈbliːk], Square of the Republic) is a square in Berlin, Germany. It is located in the Tiergarten (borough Mitte), directly in front (west) of the Reichstag building. The square has an area of about 36,900 square meters and is almost completely covered by grass but is decorated with some hedges and a few trees.

Before 1926 and between 1933 and 1948 it was called Königsplatz (German: [ˈkøːnɪçsˌplats], King's Square). The Victory Column stood here before it was moved to its present location in 1939.

The square was created in about 1735 and was used under King Frederick William I as parade-ground, a sandy field then known as "Exerzierplatz vor dem Brandenburger Tor". In 1844 the Kroll Opera House was built on its west end, and in 1867 it was turned into a city square named "Königsplatz".

In 1873 the Victory Column was erected in the center of the square, at the end of the newly created Siegesallee boulevard. At the east end of the square stood the Palais of the Prussian count Atanazy Raczyński, before the Reichstag building was built there from 1884 to 1894.

During the Weimar Republic, the square was named "Platz der Republik" to commemorate the abolition of the monarchy. When the Nazis took power in 1933, the square was renamed "Königsplatz". As part of a grandiose plan to create a "Welthauptstadt Germania", the Victory Column was enlarged and moved to its present location in 1939. World War II ended in 1945 and in 1948 the square returned to the name "Platz der Republik". The Kroll Opera, severely damaged in the war, was finally demolished in 1951.

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